Sunday, September 23, 2018

Meet Students Where They Are

Students need teachers to care about them as individuals.  Each child comes into school with a unique story.  Behaviors often come from a deeper problem.  These behaviors manifest themselves in a way that is difficult to deal with while trying to teach a classroom full of children.  Some people believe that to be fair, all students should all be treated the same.  They believe that if a student acts poorly, something should be done with no consideration of what is going on in the life of the student.  Others see a student with disadvantages and then lower expectations in subtle but devastating ways.  Kids need to be loved for who they are, even when they are at their worst.  All students deserve to have teachers who have high expectations of them.  As educators, we don't get to decide where a student starts, but we can help impact where they end up.

Statement #1: Students don't deserve to get extra attention just because they act bad

What they have right: Dealing with behavior is a balancing act.  You can, at times, unintentionally reinforce negative behaviors.

However, if you want behaviors to change, you have to change your behavior and then reflect on your impact.  If you hope to just ride it out the bad behavior, the behaviors will likely not change.  If the child is seeking attention and they get the most attention when they act poorly, you are reinforcing the poor behavior.  Each individual student has separate needs.  Giving a student specific positive feedback when their behaviors are positive can be very effective.

Statement #2: Don't have fun with them when they are misbehaving

What they have right: If a student is getting positive reinforcement for misbehaving, expect the behaviors to go up.

However, if a 6-year-old child needs a moment to breathe or they need to reset their emotions, it can be very helpful to allow them that time.  Once they are able to think more clearly, then it is time to get into consequences.  Time to clam down isn’t “fun time,” it is sometimes needed to address the behavior.

Statement #3: Stop being easy on Kids-Punish bad behaviors

What they have right: expectations should be high for all kids

However, the end consequence should connect with the behavior and should fit the individual if it is going to be effective.  If a basketball team misses a lot of layups, having the kids run as a consequence will have no impact on their behavior (unless of course, they were missing the layups on purpose).  If the players are missing layups, practice layups.  Make the consequences fit the action.  All behaviors have consequences.  If you study hard, you get better grades than you would have otherwise gotten.  That is a consequence.  Consequences that connect the behavior to the action make a much more significant impact.

Build Relationships 

What works in the short term doesn't always work in the long term.  While yelling will get an immediate reaction, building a trusting relationship will pay bigger dividends over the course of the school year.

All students deserve adults in their lives who will see their potential and take the time to find out how to get them to the high expectations set for all students.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Embrace Your Passions

Embrace being different.  Embrace what makes you different.  Embrace the strengths you bring to the table.  Build a school culture around the passion of the people in the school. As a principal of a school and as an avid learner, I want those I work with to follow their passions and create an exciting and engaging environment for everyone in the school.

As a child, I didn't want to seem different, so I often went along with the group when it came to activities and my desire to learn.  This peer pressure is often associated with kids or teens.  However, this thinking creeps into our adult life also.  The pressure is to go to the middle.  Don't be great, be just be good enough.

During High School, I was passionate about football.  That was an acceptable passion to have from my peer group.  As a result, I excelled in football and learned a tremendous amount about leadership and teamwork.  I found a passion and it made me a better person.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the same for learning.  Overall, I was a good student.  However, I wasn't a great learner.  The best example is that I wanted to be bilingual since I was very young.  In High School, I took Spanish I and then Spanish II.  Then I quit.  No real reason, I just didn't continue.  I had enough credit for what I needed for going to college.  I got through on the bare minimum.  That would truly be OK if it wasn't a passion of mine. So why did I quit?  This is where the push to the middle happens.  This isn't to blame my friends.  In fact, many of them went on to Spanish III. However, taking Spanish and learning Spanish are two very different things.  I simply didn't want to admit that I wanted to learn something that others didn't have the same passion for.   Interestingly, I think some of my friends may have had the same interest, but we never talked about it, so I'm not really sure what they thought.

The push to the middle is powerful.  I've seen many great people who resist the push to the middle.  It's amazing, we all have tremendous respect and admiration for these people, and yet some of us never want to take the steps to be different than the group.

So here are some ideas to embrace your passion and help others embrace their passions:

1. Talk about your passions - Make your passion public.  Others may want to help you or may have contacts that could benefit you.  Talking about your passions also makes it more acceptable for others to talk about their passions.  You might soon find out the other person's passions.

2. Speak with passion - Let there be no mistake of what you are passionate about.

3. Encourage others in their passion - When a student or a peer share their passions with you, encourage them.  Never be the person who diminishes someone's passion.

4. Celebrate - When you reach a goal, make it public.  When others reach a goal, celebrate.

Passion will push you to an incredible school culture and learning environment. People who work in their passion areas are going to perform better and be happier.  Giving teachers and students time to talk about what they are excited about in an encouraging environment will lead to amazing results!!!

Monday, September 3, 2018

Reflective School Leader

Habits are critical to everything we do.  Focusing on the 10/90 Principle, we can concentrate on what is important.  Ten/Ninety is prioritizing how we respond over focusing on how others have treated us or what has happened to us.

Routines that focus on priorities will help you become a better school leader.  For me, it can be easy on a day to day basis to waste time. So, I try to focus on 4 R's, or r sounding type of words: Read, Write, Run, and Reflect.  These are my daily habits.  These 4 things are an easy way for me to reflect on my day.  Did I do each of the 4 R's?  

Here's how I define the 4R's of Habits:

Read - means to learn.  Learning includes my Spanish classes, Duolingo, learning podcasts, etc.  It also refers directly to reading about leadership or education also.

Write - Each day I write in my journal.  I'm also am trying to incorporate a weekly blog.

Run - This is about health.  It used to be about running, but running sometimes doesn't work for me since I have a bad back.  So, lifting, walking, and running can all count as "run."

Reflect - This also comes in the form of journaling.  I empty out my thoughts and reflect on the day.  Did I do all of the 4 R's?  I usually try to reflect on Leadership, Innovation, and Passion.  Somedays though it is more of a specific reflection on one of the 4 priorities I've identified for myself. I have found that writing helps bring thoughts to the forefront.  Often, I think I don't have anything on my mind or I don't need to reflect on the day because nothing that noteworthy happened.  By practicing writing every day, I'm amazed by the amount I have to reflect on but I wouldn't know that without the actual act of writing.

Planning for these routines is important.  Time slips by if you don't plan around priorities.  By planning around priorities, I can move the little things outside of the school day so I can better focus on being with students and there for teachers during the day.